"I
just felt so awful for Pike," Dewshine says after tribal council. "He's
still here because Skot sacrificed himself. But the fact is, we'll probably
be voting Pike out next if he doesn't hold onto immunity. Although I have
heard some rumours that Cutter and Scouter are looking at Nightfall now."
Cutter: Nightfall still won't commit to my camp. I'm thinking that it might be time to get rid of her. I'm not going to be stabbed in the back like I was with Venka.On Day 34 Pike find an early tree-mail which rouses them from their morning nap. "It's a new challenge!" Pike cries. "And I think it's going to be something with dreamberries!" Cutter frowns as he reads the write. "It's something about keeping from getting the dunk... stay standing and getting nice and drunk... staying on your place and seeing a familiar face. Some such sh*t. It's a damned insipid rhyme - and you know how much we Wolfriders usually love insipid rhymes."Rayek: We're perched on the knife-edge now. Venka and I, we have to watch each other's backs.
Venka: Father and I are a unit. Nothing will change that. We will stick together until the end.
Pike: Maybe it's dreamberry wine!At noon the New Blood tribe arrives at the challenge point, once again at the pier. The nine elves find themselves staring at nine squares floating on the water's surface. A six-foot-high box, with a hinged side and a ribbon on top, sits next to Teir. "Good afternoon, everyone," Teir smiles. "Now, today's challenge is all about balance and endurance. You each have a station on the water. Now, it's a nice clear day, so there shouldn't be much in the way of waves. Your mission, to stay balanced on your square for as long as possible. You slip, you get the dunk. Wanna know what you're playing for?"Scouter: I want to know what the "familiar face" is about?
The New Blood cheers, and Teir knocks on the side of the box. The hinged door opens, and out strides Strongbow, looking less than pleased with the situation, and holding a bottle of wine in his hand. **Shade and Sweet Water, tribemates. While I do not endorse this ridiculous enterprise in any way, and will kick several of your asses for voting off my lifemate on the first day, I am here with a bottle of Old Maggoty's finest dreamberry wine for the winner of today's challenge.**
"But that's not all," Teir says.
Strongbow's exasperated sigh comes through his sending. **I also have a copy of the Sunday edition of the Grohmul Times and a quiet chair in the shade with assorted.... *sigh* chips and dip for today's winner to catch up on all the current events you've missed while participating in this asinine game. You don't get to keep the paper afterwards.... so *groan* be sure to get all you can out of it - that's what the dreamberry wine is for.** He glares at Teir. **Can I go home now? MacGuyver's coming on in half an hour.**
Cutter: Just seeing a familiar face was all the reward I needed.Ember: I think they have enough "stirring quotes" from you, Dad.
Pike: Let's go, let's go. That wine ain't getting any stronger!
The
elves take up their positions on the floating mats. After several false
starts where elves fall off before Teir can start the stopwatch, the challenge
begins. Scouter is the first to go, at a mere twelve seconds. Cutter wobbles
several times but stays standing, while Nightfall soon finds out she's
a lot more top-heavy now than in her youth, and falls in a belly-flop.
Venka stays on for several more minutes, but loses her balance when the
splash of Ember hitting the water rocks her mat. Skywise drops next, followed
by Dewshine. Rayek and Pike remain. "This could go on for hours," Ember
says as she hauls herself out of the water. But what follows amazes the
elves. "How good is your memory when you're drunk off your fat little ass?"
Rayek calls across the water.
"Good enough to remember just who you said you'd sleep if you liked boys," Pike shouts back.
"Then you read that paper for World Events to Arts and Leisure. And enjoy the wine." With that Rayek gives Pike a cocky salute and jumps into the water. Teir laughs at the turn of events, then declares Pike the winner. The Wolfrider springs off his mat and swings to the pier, then bounds about the pier, hugging everyone in succession.
Nightfall: That was so touching. I don't think I've ever seen Rayek be so generous. Sure, he let Cutter nearly kill him in the troll caverns, but this is different. He's been growling about how he hasn't kept up reading his Dear Abby ever since he came to the island, and he sacrificed that to let Pike get drunk.
Ember: I want to know who Rayek would sleep with.Pike grabs the bottle of dreamberry wine and hops into the waiting speedboat that would take him off to read his paper in peace. The elves shout out news they want to hear, then turn and walk back to camp. "Pike won't remember a damn thing," Cutter sighs. "I should have won that contest," Scouter growls. "Someone was jinxing me."Cutter: Eww, now I have to deal with Rayek lusting after me. Not that it's surprising.
Rayek: Ughhhhh.... I think I'm going to be sick.
Venka: You know... I always wondered why Father took Skywise to the future along with Leetah and the twins...
Back at camp Scouter and Ember quarrel about who should go out hunting. "I notice no one asked my opinion," Cutter says. "If I didn't know better I might think Scouter is forgetting that I am his chief." Finally the elves agree that Rayek, Scouter and Nightfall should go hunting, while Dewshine and Ember go on a water run. Cutter takes the time to sit and strategize with Skywise. "I told Skywise that Scouter and I are thinking of going after Nightfall if she doesn't take immunity. I just can't trust her anymore. Skywise agreed, and I'm confident that he's on board with us."
Skywise: With Cutter, you just smile and nod and let him think you give a damn.Pike returns several hours later, smelling of the most potent dreamberry wine. Against all expectations, he then proceeds to recite in detail the contents of the newspaper. "Yeah, so fun things are happening," he reports to the camera later. "Some more people were publicly executed for trying to get a look at the shards in the Citadel. They made a huge drug bust in the warehouse district of Port Bane. Um... the logging industry just got a huge tax break, so we'd better watch our backs at Thorny Mountain Holt. Winnowill showed up in this really slutty outfit at the Djun's charity fundraiser, and everyone's talking about whether she used double-sided tape. There's this big gay scandal in the entertainment industry, and from the looks of it, the trolls are still stealing people's pigs out of their backyards."
Cutter: I can't believe he remembered all that.Ember: That must have been great dreamberry wine.
Rayek: Oh, of course, whenever you write to Dear Abby complaining about your mother-in-law, she always sides with the mother-in-law. Why don't they ever print my letter?
The
next day Teir gathers the New Blood for their next immunity challenge.
The contest is weight-lifting. The contestants have to hold the rocks above
their heads for five seconds. The rocks start at 30 pounds, and get heavier
in 10 pound increments. Dewshine swears loudly, and Cutter and Scouter
do pre-emptive victory dances.
"Survivors, ready!" Teir shouts. "GO!"
All the elves make it through the first round, and the second. Dewshine's arms tremble at the 50 pound rocks, but she holds on until the 60 pound rock does her in. The other eight elves make it to 80 pounds before Ember's arms shake and the rock slips from her hands. The elves drop out one by one. Rayek, Cutter, and Skywise remain, and Teir introduces a tie-breaker. 300 pound rocks. The three struggle to lift them. Rayek cannot lift the rock off the ground. Skywise lifts it to chest height, then drops it. Cutter struggles, growls, swears, then with great efforts, hoists the rock over his head.
"Immunity - for Cutter!" Teir cries.
"Bearclaw... my chief... my SIRE... I honour you," Cutter whispers as Teir slips the necklace over his head.
Rayek and Pike snicker.
"I'll see you tomorrow," Teir says. "Cutter, you're guaranteed a one-in-eight shot at being sole Survivor. For someone else, the first place in the jury is waiting for you."
The New Blood tribe returns to camp in silence. "I really think I'm next," Pike says. Nightfall agrees that Pike will probably be the one to go, despite rumours that Cutter was displeased with her. "No, I don't think Cutter will turn on me. We've been through too much together. I'm fairly certain it's going to be Pike or Rayek. I'll have to talk to Cutter later. I've seen enough people get trapped by voting blocs to go to tribal council without checking out the facts. Do I think Cutter would lie to me? No, of course not."
"See, if Skot had made it one more council, we would have been on the jury together," Pike says. "Now he's back in Thorny Mountain and I'll be all by myself in the jury until someone else gets the boot. I don't mind getting voted off - I always knew I'd never make it to the Final Four. But I really don't want to be the first jury member."
On the evening of Day 36, the tribe assembles at council. Scouter evades the question about alliances, and Cutter insists everyone is interested in a fair game. When Teir tells them to go vote, no one will meet anyone else's eyes. "I can feel the tension in the air," Teir says. "Something tells me this might be one of the hardest votes yet."
When
the votes are read out, Rayek gets one vote, and Scouter gets two. But
Nightfall gets a majority of six votes. She stares into space blankly before
she gets up and brings her torch over to be snuffed out. "The tribe has
spoken," Teir says. "Nightfall, our first member of the jury."
| NIGHTFALL'S LAST WORDS |
| Well, it's nice to know that Father and daughter can agree on something. I guess being mentor to one chief and mistress to another for five hundred years doesn't go as far as it used to. I'm not so upset with Ember, she's just a cub - but Cutter... I asked him, and he lied to my face. All I can say, is I'll be really interested to exercise my powers as juror. |